In recent years, a penetration rate of mobile telephones (portable communication terminals) has been increasing explosively, and a large number of people have owned mobile telephones. Under the circumstances where the mobile telephones are common among many people, allowing for various operations other than calling operation by means of mobile telephones makes the mobile telephones more useful.
Now, the mobile telephones have gone beyond merely communication devices, and they have become multifunction devices capable of performing various operations. It is conceived to operate other devices by making the most use of such processing capabilities. For example, there are the following conceivable operations: locking a door by means of a mobile telephone; utilizing a mobile telephone instead of showing a ticket; paying fees by means of a mobile telephone; and monitoring a state of something by means of a mobile telephone.
However, a conventional mobile telephone is connected to an external device via a mobile communication network so as to operate other device, so that a use fee (communication cost) of the mobile communication network is charged to operate other device. For example, an ordinary task such as unlocking a door by means of a mobile telephone takes a communication cost. Further, at such a place that access to the mobile communication network is impossible and at such a place that the use of a mobile telephone is banned, the operation using a mobile telephone is not available.
A conceivable method for solving such a problem is to incorporate a short distance wireless communications capability into a mobile telephone and operate other device by means of this communications capability. This can solve the problem of a communication cost charged for the ordinary task as described above. For example, consider that the operation of purchasing a canned drink from a vending machine is performed by means of a mobile telephone. The operating via the mobile communication network requires paying for a communication fee of the mobile telephone as well as a charge for the canned drink. On the other hand, the operation using the short distance wireless communication capability does not require paying such a communication fee.
However, there is the problem that those who can perform an operation by means of a mobile telephone including the short distance wireless communications capability are limited to users who purchase such a mobile telephone, and users who use ordinary mobile telephones cannot perform such an operation.
At the start of the service providing the operation of a device by means of a mobile telephone, this problem invites a situation where the great majority of people cannot use the service. Also, a service provider cannot expand a business of the service using a short distance wireless communications capability until many of the mobile telephone users purchase mobile telephones including the short distance wireless communications capability. Conceivably, additional investments for stimulation of the user's interest in renewing mobile telephones could be required for the improvement of such a situation.
Further, at the start of the service providing the operation of a device by means of a mobile telephone, in many cases, the short distance wireless communications capability is not included in operated targets, which could result in the limitation of an available operated target.